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We Recently Flew JetBlue Mint in Mid 2021, for the first time since the pandemic. We'll have a full video review later, but here are our first thoughts:
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Booking JetBlue Mint Awards with TrueBlue Points
Thanks to JetBlue TrueBlue mileage pooling, we had enough points to redeem for two JetBlue Mint seats at 54,400 points per ticket. We reserved over 3 months in advance, which we highly recommend, as a few days prior to our flight, award seats were already 157,600 points per ticket (TrueBlue is revenue based, so award rates increase as ticket prices increase). While our boarding passes were being scanned, we also overheard someone inquiring about a paid upgrade to JetBlue Mint, and they were told it would cost them $499 per ticket to upgrade on our flight.
The other benefit of booking early, apart from a better award price, is being able to choose one of the four suites with closing doors (this was the existing JetBlue Mint product), which affords greater privacy and space.
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Boarding
Maybe it's just us (since we're not Mosaic members) but we wish JetBlue Mint passengers were able to pre-board ahead of Mosaic. Instead, since Mosaic and Mint are called together, there was a huge line to board, due to the many Mosaic members.
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Highlights
We knew that due to the pandemic, JetBlue has suspended its usual welcome beverage and hot towel service, so that didn't surprise us. While we've flown JetBlue Mint in the suite before, we still really enjoy this seat. The suite door is of course not very high at all, but what we like is the extra counter space and two power outlets, making it convenient to charge devices or have a bag or laptop there, within easy reach, throughout the flight. The Tuft & Needle duvet is certainly better than the thin blanket we had on our United 767 Polaris Business Class flight to Hawaii, where the bedding was downgraded due to the pandemic. And the pillow was very comfortable.
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We were happy to be able to dine on demand, pre-reserving the small plates we wanted but having our meal later than other passengers. Everything we had was tasty, with the maple-glazed bacon and smoked salmon with yellow beets and horseradish breadcrumbs the two standouts, but the cacio e pepe quiche and lemon ricotta pancakes also very good. Since the small plates are quite small, the cheese danish helped fill us up, and was perfect paired with an iced cappuccino (espresso drinks are again available, even though on the Web site it mentions they were suspended during the pandemic).
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What We'd Change
JetBlue Mint does not offer lounge access, which frankly we had no need for as these days we aim to spend as little time as possible in the airport prior to boarding a flight. We had a smooth flight, with excellent service from the crew. Obviously the existing Mint seats aren't new and are starting to show their age in terms of nicks and scratches here and there, and this isn't an international flight, so you can't expect certain amenities such as slippers, mattress pads, etc. that you can enjoy in JAL SkySuite Business Class or Qatar QSuites Business Class. I will say that the IFE movie browsing is a bit clunky, and the noise cancelling headphones aren't as good as Bose. But FlyFi free WiFi worked quite well (you can also earn 3X points per dollar on Amazon spend).
Our main gripe isn't really controlled by JetBlue, although I'll mention it since JetBlue claims that Mint customers are supposed to have preferred bag claim at the carousel. And yet at least 50 bags appeared before ours did, including many for passengers who weren't Mint customers, so perhaps it shouldn't be something JetBlue markets, as that part left us disappointed.
Overall, however, we would happily choose JetBlue Mint again, especially if we were able to fly the old suite product or the new JetBlue Suite or new JetBlue Studio seats. The combination of solo seats with extra space, good small dish dining on demand, generally very good service, and free WiFi makes Mint our top choice for transcontinental flying.
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